I’m very sad that today was the last main video on the “Creating Games” YouTube channel that Masahiro Sakurai created. Since Day 1, I’ve enjoyed his many views and insights into game design, why certain things are important, how game development should be handled in certain cases, and the history of the games he personally worked on. He even did a tribute to Satoru Iwata that got me tearing up quite a bit. Today, though, in his last “main video,” as there will be a special “final episode,” he went right back to his bread and butter…spreading words of wisdom.
Specifically, he talked about his “Up is Down and Down is Up” viewpoint on management and how higher-ups should treat employees. As you can likely guess, Masahiro Sakurai believes that those at the top shouldn’t berate those “below them” because, in his mind, they AREN’T below them. In fact, they are equals in all meaningful ways. Yes, directors and producers are there to help and guide, and Sakurai is fine with that. However, he doesn’t condone mistreatment, as everyone needs to work together to make the best games possible.
This is prudent in today’s gaming space because there are plenty of cases from recent history of those in power looking down on those who are actually making the games and punishing them for when things go wrong. We’ve seen it with Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, The Embracer Group, Square Enix, and more.
All the more reason to be sad that Sakurai is ending this video series, as there are clearly plenty of people who need to hear his wisdom.
